February 27, 2015
BGC partners and GFI group announce successful tender offer completion.
GFI Group Inc. and BGC Partners, Inc. announced on February 27 the successful completion of BGC’s tender offer for GFI shares. Willkie advised GFI Group in an agreement announced earlier this month with BGC Partners under which GFI's board of directors unanimously agreed to support BGC's tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of GFI common stock at $6.10 per share in cash. The deal is estimated to be valued at approximately $778 million. The agreement brings to a close a long, protracted takeover battle that began last summer.
GFI, a leading intermediary and provider of trading technologies and support services to the global OTC and listed markets, is expected to operate as a division of BGC, a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. GFI is expected to remain a separately branded division, and GFI's current Executive Chairman and its current Chief Executive Officer are expected to remain executives of GFI and members of its board of directors.
The cross-border, multidisciplinary Willkie deal team, which has represented GFI Group throughout the takeover contest, is led by partner Jeffrey Poss and includes partners Michael Katz, Tariq Mundiya, Christopher Peters and Michael Schwartz.
